


A Dryad's Dilemma

by Verdic



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: DNDecember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 00:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12972021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdic/pseuds/Verdic
Summary: An evil has taken over a woods and killed most of the dryads in the area. Desperate, the dryad of an Ash tree seeks assistance from Rumil and his friends.





	A Dryad's Dilemma

The dryad looked at the party that had wandered into her grove. She noticed two of them were already touched by the fey. Perhaps these people could help her and her sisters. However, caution kept her from immediately coming out to them. Looking closer, she did not see a woodsman’s ax with them. She quickly flitted over to her sisters.

“Willow, Birch, Oak, I think I have found people to help us.” 

“Ash, are you sure? The last time we thought we found someone to try and help us, Maple was tortured and killed by their cruelty and desires.” Willow said, her voice gentle and worried in equal measures.

“I’m sure of it!” Ash said. “Two of them are well touched by the fey. I think we should try. We have to if we want to survive. Those devils won’t let us live.” Birch and Oak looked at each other, nervous expressions on their faces. 

“Fine, but we do this as one. I am not letting any of you get injured. I’ll lead.” Willow snapped. Ash smiled and led them to where the adventurers had made camp. There was a fire in the middle of the camp, but it was made only of deadwood being gathered by a druid. There were two gathered around the fire, cleaning a kill and cooking the food. A tiny one was cutting up vegetables and making a meal. The dryads looked on, wondering how to make their enterance. That was when they heard digging. One of the party members, the one with most of his face hidden, was digging a latrine a few dozen yards away from the camp.

Nodding their consent, They approached the digging figure, Willow at the lead. 

“It’s not done just yet. You’ll have to wait another few minutes.” The figure called over it’s shoulder as the Dryads appraoched.

“What is that for?” Ash asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. The figure turned around at the odd sound of voice. His eyes went wide for a moment.

“I don’t think you need this. It’s for bodily waste.” He looked around and pulled himself out of the pit. “My name is Rumil. How can I help you?” Willow was taken aback. Most mortals knew of Dryads as temptresses and wrathful nature spirits and were either attracted to them or terrified of them. This mortal semeed to be neither attracted to them or afraid. 

“We require you to help us. Your party is tresspassing and there is a toll.” She said, trying to build her bluster and confidence back up. “Either do this or...you cannot pass through.”

“I need to talk to my team before we make any decision. Come, you should meet them.” Rumil turned and walked back to the camp. Stunned, Willow stood frozen. It was Ash who ran after the human. 

“I’m Ash, can you please help us?” Ash asked as she caught up to Rumil. 

“Hey, we have some people asking us for help.” Rumil ignored the question and walked into the clearing. HIs teammates looked at him, then at the quartet of Dryads. He turned to Ash. “So, what is the nature of the trouble you have?”

“There is an evil human who took up residence in a cave a little ways off. He has been summoning devils to do his bidding. Our sisters are being attacked, mained, killed...and worse.” Ash’s voice turned to pleading. “We weren’t able to stop him and now...it’s only the four of us.” Seraphina got up and pulled Ash into a hug.

“And what do we get out of it?” Moonflower asked, eyes narrowing. “I’m not saying this evil shouldn’t be stopped, but we have not had a paying job in over a month. We are running on fumes.”

Ash fiddled with her branches. “We have some gold and stuff we have collected that we don’t need.”

“You mean you collected it from people you lured and killed. I know about you Dryads. As quick to help a traveller as harm someone who has trespassed against you.” Moonflower glared at Ash.

“We only kill those who do us harm. And what about you? Have you never killed in self defence? I bet you have even killed when you weren’t under attack.” Willow barked at Moonflower. She turned to Seraphina and Rumil. “As your companion said, that mage needs to be dealt with. Who cares that we are the ones asking you for assistance. You are getting paid and will do good. That should be all that matters.”

Rumil held up his hand to forstall any arguements. “We have had our share of deception, where people have told us a mission was for the greater good and it turned out not to be. You must excuse my companion’s caution, just as I am excusing your words due to your caution.”

“As long as we are getting paid and they don’t kill us, I’m fine with this job.” Moonflower said. He sat down and waited for the meal to be ready. Rumil offered seats to the Dryads and went to finish the latrine.

“So, what’s your malfunction with them?” Larkin asked Moonflower as she sat down. 

“When I was younger, there were multiple Dryad groups living close by. As the years passed, humans started moving in and removing trees. The Dryads started fighting back. We thought we were safe as we tried to keep the humans from encroaching on their domain. Soon we realized that most of our missing people were not being killed by the humans. The Dryads were not being picky about who they killed.”  
“Our elders went to meet with them to stop the killing of our people, who were innocent of any wrongdoings. The Dryads agreed to meet.” He looked over at the four Dryads, who were holding bowls of soup and testing them. They looked up at him as he stopped. “When the elders arrived to make peace, they were ambushed by the Dryads and killed. In the end, only about one tenth of my village survived the Dryad’s onslaught, even though we had been friends for hundreds of years.” 

“It’s a sad tale.” Birch spoke up softly. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I won’t try to deny our nature. We take any attack on our groves seriously. The damage must have been severe if they were attacking everyone, even friends.”

“And how do we know that you aren’t that far gone?” Moonflower shot back.

“We aren’t.” Ash pleaded. “That’s why we are asking you. We are all that’s left. Please, help us.” Moonflower just turned away. Akmun went over to sit and talk with him.

“We will take the job, and the payment.” Seraphina said. “You should come with us, in case we have some further questions.”


End file.
